[LargeFormat] new topographers

[Dave Southwood]

dear pam

first, its a pleasure. from the intensity of your response im sure any group
would come to attention

second, all the aforementioned photographers have done different work over
the years and possibly you have seen material that falls out of the category
i mention. perhaps we should pinpoint a body of work and discuss it.

i dont think the pictures are bland(i qualified the term with 'seemingly'),
i love them, but their agency falls outside of what is generally expected
from photography ie. for information to be yeilded quickly. you are probably
more literate, visually, than joe public and accustomed to the slow way of
taking and reading large - format photography so they would not seem
anomalous to you.

part of their potency lies in their superb production: seeing very large
immaculate prints and being seduced by the sheer physicality of the object,
but not really often seeing a reason for the taking of the picture can lead
to a fascination, i find. i enjoy the fact that the artist seems almost
invisible in the process, and by that i mean the framing sometimes seems
arbitrary.

and why i posted this mail on this user group system is because you cant do
it on other formats and enjoy the startling scale and pin-sharpness.

have you ever seen an exciting verge

dave








----- Original Message -----
From: Pam Niedermayer <pam_pine@cape.com>
To: <largeformat@f32.net>
Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2001 7:54 PM
Subject: Re: [LargeFormat] new topographers


> First, thanks for bringing this group to my attention, wasn't aware
> there was a "new topography" discipline, so I just perused the web for
> some sample photos. I don't understand why you describe these
> photographs as "bland". It seems that these photographers are making
> quite a statement about what our current landscape is like, that what
> we have to look forward to, given the population explosion, is even
> more unattractive landscapes around us. So, go forth and de-multiply,
> or maybe some disease will do it for us.
>
> The danger is that the photos are quite well done, so they may be
> unintentionally glorifying more development, a great deal of which
> will never see completion, will be left in some state between
> development and natural (some photographers include man made objects
> as natural, I'm not in this statement).
>
> As to "empty verge", I don't see anything empty in these photos, the
> landscapes are full of stuff. Perhaps you could explain why you used
> the word "verge"?
>
> Pam
>
> > Dave Southwood wrote:
> >
> > i am a south african fine - artist(who shoots on large - format) and
> > ive recently become interested in a phase of american
> > photography whose proponents i have seen refered to as the 'new
> > topographers'. this group of photographers includes the likes of joe
> > deal, lewis baltz, robert adams and joel sternfeld. for a while this
> > quiet, seemingly bland type of photography has been my keen interest
> > and i wondered if anyone else had an interest in it. i know that not
> > all the stuff that fits the badge is shot on large - format but i
> > think a lot of it is and it certainly lends itself to the sort of
> > super sharp rendition that large - format can bring to bear. calling
> > all fans of the empty verge.
> >
> > dave southwood
>
> --
> Pamela G. Niedermayer
> Pinehill Softworks Inc.
> 600 W. 28th St., Suite 103
> Austin, TX 78705
> 512-236-1677
> http://www.pinehill.com
>
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